The Eminem and Dr. Dre of ToK podcasting return with an examination of another Theory of Knowledge essay question. 

Some areas we cover you may like to know more about:

Banana on a wall:
https://www.gq.com/story/suddenly-the-koons-is-this-100k-banana

1619 Project
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html 

Herodotus, the 'father of history'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A542ixwyBhc&ab_channel=TED-Ed 

Enjoy

After two years, the ToK dynamic duo are back, baby! 

Do we need custodians of knowledge? 

We have a wide ranging general discussion of the question, focusing on a few AoKs that may connect to it. We get into a few examples that caught our eye. 

Some links you might find useful:

Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Imagined-Communities-Reflections-on-the-Origins-and-Spread-of-Nationalism

Duchamp's Fountain:
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/duchamp-fountain-t07573

Public Broadcasting: Its past and its future
https://knightfoundation.org/public-media-white-paper-2017-gardner/

Enjoy - and as always, reach out to us:

[email protected] 

Can there be knowledge that is independent of culture?

Good question - We have a go at answering it.

We get stuck in to the Voyager spacecraft, music and octaves across cultures, Denis Dutton's The Art Instinct.

Get in touch:

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @tbdpod1 

Some links you might find useful:

Denis Dutton's The Art Instinct:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5788390-the-art-instinct

The Voyager Golden Record
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/

Music Across Cultures
https://www.oh-i-see.com/blog/2013/11/24/culture-smart-the-musical-scale-across-cultures/
https://news.mit.edu/2019/perception-musical-pitch-cultures-0919

The r/ToK subreddit voted for our topic, and this was the result.

We tackle this question: How can we distinguish between good and bad interpretations? Discuss with reference to the arts and one other area of knowledge.

Some very fun chat with some great real world examples.

Get in touch:

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @tbdpod1 

Some links you might find useful:

Misinterpreting The Scream:
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/munch-scream-british-museum-gbr-scli-intl/index.html

Malcolm Gladwell: The Bomber Mafia
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/25/books/review/the-bomber-mafia-malcolm-gladwell.html 

Robert McNamara "the hyper-rational executive led astray by numbers"
https://www.technologyreview.com/2013/05/31/178263/the-dictatorship-of-data/

We have a good time debating the Paradox of Tolerance.  

Source:
Karl Popper: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/26/100-best-nonfiction-books-karl-popper-open-society-its-enemies

If something demands action, would you help? Or does it depend how many people are there...? We have fun talking about this controversial phenomenon.  Widely accepted to be true, contemporary research brings it into dispute. 

Sources:

Bystander effect in street disputes questioned:
https://nscr.nl/en/bystander-blijkt-wel-degelijk-in-actie-te-komen-bij-ruzie-op-straat/

Death of Raymond Zack:
https://www.firehouse.com/home/news/10722848/family-of-raymond-zack-sues-alameda-city-and-county-in-death

Kitty Genovese:
https://www.simplypsychology.org/Kitty-Genovese.html#:~:text=This%20term%20was%20coined%20after,intervene%20or%20call%20the%20police.

We have a go at unpacking this classic philosophical paradox, riffing on all the ramifications that flow out of it. As always, an enjoyable conversation about this head scratcher. 

Our second 'mini-sode' -  The focus this time: 'What is Knowledge? Is it simply justified, true belief?

Our first 'mini-sode' -  in which we take a quick, casual approach to answering the question: 'What is Philosophy? A good introduction to students wondering that very thing...

On this episode: “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact” (Arthur Conan Doyle). 

Diversions/Explorations include:

• The snake ripping your throat out is the one to worry about
• Some great discussion defining ‘obvious facts’
• The King of Red 
• We are not chemists 
• Barry Schwartz’s Paradox of Choice  
• Francis Fukuyama and ‘The End of History’

Get in touch:

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @tbdpod1 

Sources you might like:

Canadian Snow Plow Names

https://barrie.ctvnews.ca/plowy-mcplowface-austin-plowers-among-winning-names-chosen-for-barrie-s-snowplow-fleet-1.5306888  

Sir Ernest Rutherford

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1908/rutherford/biographical/ 

Atomic Structure https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/what-is-radiation/ionising-radiation/atomic-structure 

How Scientists View Quantum Physics

https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/how-scientists-view-quantum-physics/  

Paradox of Choice

https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_the_paradox_of_choice?language=en 

The End of History - Francis Fukuyama 

https://www.embl.de/aboutus/science_society/discussion/discussion_2006/ref1-22june06.pdf  

But What If We're Wrong? 

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/533521/but-what-if-were-wrong-by-chuck-klosterman/